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Setting up your environment

In this section we will install all the requirements needed for the practical sessions. This includes the following:

  • rustup - The Rust toolchain installer
  • MetaMask - Ethereum wallet
  • mxpy - tool for interacting with the blockchain
  • sc-meta - universal smart contract management tool
  • Solana CLI - tool for interacting with Solana blockchain
  • Anchor - Solana smart contract framework
  • Phantom - Solana wallet
  • Solflare - Alternative Solana wallet with advanced features

Rustup - The Rust toolchain installer​

Rust is installed and managed by the rustup tool. If you've installed rustup in the past, you can update your installation by running rustup update.

For more informantion, please check rustup documentation.

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Configuring the PATH environment variable​

In the Rust development environment, all tools are installed to the ~/.cargo/bin directory, and this is where you will find the Rust toolchain, including rustc, cargo, and rustup.

During installation rustup will attempt to configure the PATH. Because of differences between platforms, command shells, and bugs in rustup, the modifications to PATH may not take effect until the console is restarted, or the user is logged out, or it may not succeed at all.

Please make sure you have included ~/.cargo/bin directory in your PATH environment variable.

Please verify that rustup was succesffully install with rustup --version.

Uninstall Rust​

If at any point you would like to uninstall Rust, you can run rustup self uninstall.

MultiversX prerequisites​

mxpy​

Mxpy is a tool for interaction with the blockchain:

----------------------
COMMAND GROUPS summary
----------------------
contract                       Build, deploy, upgrade and interact with Smart Contracts
tx                             Create and broadcast Transactions
validator                      Stake, UnStake, UnBond, Unjail and other actions useful for Validators
account                        Get Account data (nonce, balance) from the Network
ledger                         Get Ledger App addresses and version
wallet                         Create wallet, derive secret key from mnemonic, bech32 address helpers etc.
deps                           Manage dependencies or multiversx-sdk modules
config                         Configure multiversx-sdk (default values etc.)
localnet                       Set up, start and control localnets
data                           Data manipulation omnitool
staking-provider               Staking provider omnitool
dns                            Operations related to the Domain Name Service

Before installing mxpy, please make sure you have a working Python 3 environment. You'll need Python 3.8 or later on Linux or MacOS.

The recommended way to install mxpy is by using pipx. If you'd like to use mxpy on Windows, we recommend installing it within the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

In order to install mxpy using pipx, run the following command:

pipx install multiversx-sdk-cli --force

To check that mxpy installed successfully you can run the following command:

mxpy --version

wasm32-unknown-unknown​

This is WebAssembly target which uses 32-bit memories. It is used to compile MultiversX smart contracts to WebAssembly.

To add it, please use:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

sc-meta​

This tool is used to compile smart contracts.

To install it, run:

cargo install multiversx-sc-meta --locked

To verify that it's correctly installed, run:

sc-meta --version

Ethereum prerequisites​

MetaMask​

MetaMask is a web browser extension and mobile app that allows you to manage your Ethereum private keys. By doing so, it serves as a wallet for Ether and other tokens, and allows you to interact with decentralized applications, or dapps.

Please visit this to install MetaMask as a browser extension (Safari is not supported) or as a mobile app.

Hardhat​

Hardhat is a development environment for Ethereum software. It consists of different components for editing, compiling, debugging and deploying your smart contracts and dApps, all of which work together to create a complete development environment.

To install Hardhat, use:

npm install --save-dev hardhat

To verify that hardhat is install, run:

$ npx hardhat
888    888                      888 888               888
888    888                      888 888               888
888    888                      888 888               888
8888888888  8888b.  888d888 .d88888 88888b.   8888b.  888888
888    888     "88b 888P"  d88" 888 888 "88b     "88b 888
888    888 .d888888 888    888  888 888  888 .d888888 888
888    888 888  888 888    Y88b 888 888  888 888  888 Y88b.
888    888 "Y888888 888     "Y88888 888  888 "Y888888  "Y888

👷 Welcome to Hardhat v2.22.12 👷‍

? What do you want to do? … 
  Create a JavaScript project
  Create a TypeScript project
  Create a TypeScript project (with Viem)
  Create an empty hardhat.config.js
❯ Quit

For the ones that prefer, there is a Hardhat for Visual Studio Code.

Solana prerequisites​

Solana CLI Tools​

The Solana Command Line Interface (CLI) tools allow you to interact with Solana clusters, manage accounts, and deploy programs.

Install the Solana CLI tools using the official installer:

sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.solana.com/stable/install)"

Note: If you encounter an SSL connection error (like curl: (35) LibreSSL SSL_connect: SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL), try these alternative methods:

Method 1 - Use Homebrew (Recommended for macOS):

brew install solana

Method 2 - Download script manually:

curl -O https://release.solana.com/stable/install
sh install

Method 3 - Try with different curl options:

curl --tlsv1.2 --proto '=https' -sSfL https://release.solana.com/stable/install | sh

After installation, you need to add the Solana programs to your system's PATH. Add the following line to your shell profile (e.g., ~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.bashrc):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/solana/install/active_release/bin:$PATH"

Then reload your shell profile:

source ~/.bash_profile

To verify that the Solana CLI was installed successfully, run:

solana --version

Solana Test Validator​

For local development and testing, you can run a local Solana cluster using the test validator:

solana-test-validator

This command starts a local Solana cluster that you can use for development. It's recommended to run this command in a separate terminal window that remains open during development.

To configure the CLI to use the local validator:

solana config set --url localhost

Anchor Framework​

Anchor is a framework for Solana that simplifies smart contract development by providing a convenient way to build Solana programs.

Install Anchor using the Anchor Version Manager (AVM):

cargo install --git https://github.com/coral-xyz/anchor avm --locked --force
avm install latest
avm use latest

To verify that Anchor is correctly installed, run:

anchor --version

Solana Web3.js​

For client-side development, you'll need the Solana Web3.js library. Install it using npm:

npm install @solana/web3.js